Ib One-Shots
by rexyplexy
Summary: A series of one-shots about the adventures of Ib, Garry and Mary; both taking place outside and in the gallery.
1. Reunion

**Reunion**

It was a rather sunny afternoon in the shadow of the old gallery, small groups of people would come and go every now and again as the exhibits weren't quite as popular as they had been a year ago. One year... It had been one year. The man who stood at the building's gate, refusing to take another step closer towards it, let out a sigh; to him, the past events that had happened at the gallery felt like a dream. However, he knew that not to be true as he pulled out a laced handkerchief from the pocket of his tattered coat. No, this was all the proof that he needed to know that it hadn't been a dream; the man finally forced himself to look away from the gallery for a split second in order to glance down the sidewalk. He was beginning to worry that she had forgotten, or decided to just not show up, but that wasn't quite like her so the man kept his slither of hope that she would be their soon. He looked back towards the gallery as if it would come to life and swallow him up if he didn't keep a very close eye on it; just standing there was enough to make him feel incredibly uneasy.

"Garry!" A familiar voice suddenly shouted as a small body slammed into his back and a pair of arms wrapped around his waist; this caused the man to let out a surprised scream. Which in turn, ended up making the young girl that had hugged him, let out a small bit of laughter as she stopped the surprise hug. Garry quickly whirled around, coming face to face with the small girl; her crimson eyes shining with enormous amounts of joy.

"Oh dear, Ib, I apologize for that; you've just really startled me." Garry said with an embarrassed smile, that soon vanished and became joyful as well. The two hadn't seen much of each other since that fateful day in the gallery, roughly about a year ago and they had missed each other terribly. It's not that they hadn't wanted to reunite sooner, but oddly enough it just proved to be incredibly difficult for Garry to get in touch with a nine-year-old and not look like a creep. Luckily, it was as if fate wanted them together, just like their time in the gallery; completely by chance, they had run into each other and decided to set up a time and place for them to meet and catch up. With his smile still in place, Garry opened up his arms to allow Ib to run into them for a more proper hug. "Ib, did you get taller since the last time I've seen you?"

"Yea, I did!" Ib said as she bounced back a few steps in her sudden excitement; she held up both of her hands as if to show off each of her fingers with pride. "I turned ten last week!"

"My, I didn't know that, I'm sorry that I didn't get you anything." Garry said with a frown, feeling relatively bad about having missed his little friend's tenth birthday; he would have loved to have been there.

"Don't worry about it." Ib said with a happy smile as if to show him that it really didn't bother her. "Spending the day with you can be my present!" Garry couldn't help it as he smiled again; Ib was definitely much more joyous and just plain happy than she was in the time that they had spent together in the Fabricated World. With that in mind, Garry was extremely happy that he had been able to get her out of there; if he hadn't, he probably never would have been able to see this side of her. However, as they stood there for a few moments longer, the old Ib appeared to resurface as she turned her worried crimson gaze towards the old gallery; there was mistrust shining brightly in her eyes.

Garry saw this and it caused a look of concern to flash onto his face, perhaps it would be best if they took their little reunion party else where. The purple-haired man held out his hand for the young girl, as if to ask for her permission to hold her hand; he would always do that, even in the gallery, as the last thing that Garry wanted was to make Ib feel uncomfortable.

"Would you like to go somewhere else, Ib?" Garry asked her, bringing the young girl's attention towards his out-stretched hand. Ib looked up at her friend as if she had almost forgotten that he were there, but then the uncertainty on her face vanished and she clasped a hold of his hand.

"Sure, where are we going to go?" Ib excitedly asked as Garry finally lead her away from that dreadful museum.

"I'm keeping my promise to you, of course." Garry said with a light laugh, the two walking along in order to put distance between themselves and the museum. At his words, Ib gave Garry a slightly confused expression, which caused him to give her a playful frown.

"Don't tell me that you've forgotten about it." He said with a sigh that caused Ib to look away, her little mind frantically racking her brain in an attempt to remember. Soon enough, though, they came to a small little local café and it was then that Ib's memory quickly came back to her; this caused her to looked up at Garry with excitement in her eyes.

"Oh, I know, we're getting those hamburger candies, right?!" She asked hopefully, nearly bouncing up and down as she did so. Garry was very glad that it had come back to her, though it also made him a tad sad that she could remember events from the Fabricated World so easily.

"They're called Macaroons, remember?" Garry said, though not really expecting an answer from his young friend. He was attempting to push away his worried so he wouldn't put a damper on their day that Ib was so looking forward to. "Anyway, yes, we are finally going to get those Macaroons together, Ib!"

The pair sat at a small table in the middle of the small, nearly empty, building with a plate full of the colourful little treats between them. Garry watched as Ib scarfed down one after the other, which caused him to feel very glad that she ended up liking them just as much as he did. However, he did feel slightly worried that the young girl would end up getting sick if she kept eating them at the pace that she was going.

"Slow down there, please." Garry said as he took a bite of a pink Macaroon, while then adding on in a joking tone. "They aren't going to go anywhere, Ib."

"S-Sorry Garry." Ib said, her little face flushing a bright red that nearly matched her eyes; it took Garry by surprise, but it soon vanished all-together. "Mom and dad usually just say I'm a growing girl, whatever that means... But I'll slow down for you, Garry, that way we can spend even more time together!" She said with a small smile as she took a much smaller bite out of her lime-green Macaroon. Garry simply gave a curt nod as he leaned his head into his hands, keeping a watchful eye over his little companion; they may have been in a café, but they both had to admit that sometimes their minds were still in the gallery. Even know, Garry felt the strong urge to protect and watch over Ib even though there were no obvious dangers lurking around. He quickly shook it head clear of the thoughts and flashed another smile.

"You know that your parents are right though." Garry said, which got a look of surprise from Ib. "You're growing, my, I think you'll be as tall as me one day." Ib pouted out her lip at Garry's teasing tone; she knew that there was no way she'd _ever_ be as tall as Garry.

"Whatever." She said, with the pout still upon her face, which Garry found to be super adorable. With that being said, Ib reached out to grab a hold of another Macaroon, but she had suddenly stopped short and looked awhile while dropping her hand into her lap. It took Garry by surprise as the young girl brought back up the facade that she used to hide her emotions.

"I'm done." She said quietly, looking away so the man would not see her face. A frown grew on Garry's face as he wondered what was wrong with the young girl; he then looked down towards the Macaroon that she had reached for. The sight of it made Garry pause as well and then he understood why Ib hadn't suddenly shut down; the little sweet was the brightest of yellows. Garry let out a sigh as the Macaroon had sudden reminded him of _her_; so that must have been what was bothering Ib. Garry looked back up at his little companion, whose brunette-hair was now covering her face, and he pondering about what to do to cheer her up a bit. Suddenly a little light went off in his head and he gave off another smile.

"Hey, Ib, do you have a phone at home?" Garry asked, which luckily, did manage to get Ib to look up at him from underneath her bangs.

"Y-Yea, why?" She asked as she was unsure of what Garry was getting at.

"Well, I was thinking of giving you my number so we can keep in touch better." He said, leaning forward in his hands once again. "Of course, only if you want to." This seemed to bring the light back into Ib's eyes as she excitedly perked up.

"So I could talk to you every day?!" Ib asked, to which Garry gave a sure nod; this brought back Ib's smile, which Garry loved to see upon her face rather than not.

"Sure." Garry said, pulling out a pen from his tattered coat so he could scribble it down on the nearest napkin. "I'll write it down and then we'll leave; is there anywhere else that you want to go today?" Garry just simply wanted to get her as far away from that yellow-coloured Macaroon as fast as possible. Ib looked as if she began to ponder over what she wanted to do with her best friend next; the possibilities were endless in her ten-year-old mind.

"I want to go to the park." She said once Garry had finished writing his number. The man looked back up from the napkin and nodded.

"As you wish, Ib." Garry said as he stood and handed her the napkin, before he forgot to; the young girl quickly grasped it as if she were entirely determined not to lose it. Ib quickly rushed towards the café door, while Garry pocketed the yellow Macaroon; for some reason, it didn't quite feel right for him to just leave it there. He would probably eat it later on when Ib's sights were no longer on him, so would not have to be reminded again.

"Come on, Garry!" Ib said excitedly, hopping up and down on one foot again. Garry quickly did as his little companion said, which resulted in her nearly attacking his hand as she grabbed a hold of it once more. The duo then went on their way, hand in hand; Garry had to admit, even though the museum-incident was one of the worst occurrences in his life, he was actually glad that it had happened. If it hadn't, then he and Ib would have never met and they never would have had this little joyous reunion.


	2. The Book

**The Book**

"Maybe we can find out where to go next in here." The tall purple-haired man said to his two young female companions. Ib and Garry had just recently met a third little member for their little group; a young blonde-girl by the name of Mary. Since then they hadn't had any luck of finding out where to go next, so Garry thought it would be a good idea to back-track to see if they had missed anything. Despite the fact that this room gave him the creeps due to the off-putting painting entitled "Separation" and all the eerie writing that had appeared on the walls and floor when the lights had gone out.

"Oooohhhh, such pretty colors!" Mary exclaimed once she caught sight of all the writing within the room, quickly turning towards Ib to flash a grin. Ib simply frowned and glanced up at Garry with a look of uncertainty, the young girl had been rather quieter than usual ever since they ran into the other girl. "Come on, Ib, don't you think they're just the prettiest colors?!"

"I-I guess that they are." Ib mumbled as she reached out to grab a hold of Garry's coat, but was surprised to find that the young man had already moved. Ib let out a soft grumble as she watched Garry examine the "Separation" painting once more as if it held some sort of answer; while he did that, Mary appeared to be bouncing around the letters that were painted onto the floor. With a small frown on her small face, Ib made her way over to one of the few bookshelves that were located on either side of the painting; she wanted to help Garry look. Once she reached the bookshelf, Ib's crimson eyes lightly scanned over all of the rather old looking books; only one caught her eye, simply because it looked newer than the rest. Ib grabbed a hold of it and easily pulled it out, giving the brown cover a once over; the title was a word she couldn't read. Ib opened up a random page, allowing her eyes to scan what it read:

_"By the….I…my finger….over her beautiful….with her….she…."_

Once again, Ib couldn't understand most of these words, this caused her to let out a sigh; she couldn't exactly help Garry if she could barely read. As Ib stared at the book's page, hoping that some miracle would occur that allowed her to suddenly be able to read it, she suddenly felt somebody leaning against her back in order to look over her shoulder. Ib tensed and turned her head to see a pair of large blue eyes staring right into her red ones.

"What are you looking at Ib?" Mary asked her, the blonde's voice sounding incredibly curious. Before Ib could give a response to the blonde-haired girl, Mary snatched the book out of the other girl's hands and gave the same page a once over. Ib let out a slightly agitated huff as she leaned into Mary's side in order to keep looking at the book as well.

"What are you two doing?" Garry asked once he heard their little racket; the man turned away from the painting and faced the two little girls with a slightly concerned expression.

"Ib found a book, but we can't really read a lot of these words." Mary explained without even a glance towards the purple-haired man. Garry walked over to the two girls and leaned over to take a look at the book, it only took a few short seconds for the book's material to register within his mind. The young man let out a loud gasp as he quickly snatched up the book, much to the girl's surprise, quickly shutting it without a moments hesitation.

"Y-You really shouldn't look at this kind of stuff until your older." Garry said with his face turning a light shade of red; Ib looked at him with a look of worry as she hoped that Garry wouldn't get mad at her. Meanwhile, Mary let out an agitated huff.

"Well, why not?" She asked Garry as the young man slipped the book back into its place on the bookshelf. He turned back towards the girls, his face looking incredibly nervous as he gave a rather unsure shrug.

"That's something that's for adults only, sorry." He said, the blush on his face refusing to let up in even the slightest. Ib found that to be rather odd; why would such a book like that exist? It had also became apparent that Mary, as well, had wondered this.

"Why is that?" The little blonde-girl asked with narrowed blue eyes; Garry looked down at her as if he didn't quite know what to say.

"That's just how it is." Was the only response that the young man was able to come up with for the girl. Mary didn't seem to like that answer as she sent a glare up at Garry, which for whatever reason, was strong enough to sent an uneasy shutter down the young man's spine.

"That doesn't really seem fair." Mary stated with a quick glance towards Ib, before looking back to Garry. "Why do you adults get special treatment?"

"Erm, it's kind of hard to explain." Garry said truthfully as he knelt down on one knee to be more at the girls' level. "Just trust me when I say that you'll understand when you're older." An unreadable expression flashed upon Mary's face for a split second before a large grin took its place.

"Okay, Garry, whatever you say." Mary said with a small giggle as she spun around, her green dress fanning out; the blonde then skipping away. "Me and Ib are going to get out of here and get real big and-" Mary then began to start rambling incoherently as she exited the room without another look behind her to see if her companions were coming along or not.

"Geez that girl sure is something else." Garry said with a sigh as he turned his gaze over to Ib, the young brunette staring at him curiously with her red-eyes. The young man then held out his hand towards her, to which she happily grabbed a hold of. "We should probably keep up with her before she ends up running into trouble-"

"Um, Garry..." Ib suddenly said, which brought the man to her attention. The young girl didn't admit it out loud, but she also was quite curious about the book; Ib just wasn't about to be pushy about it like Mary was. "Since you're an adult, do you read books like that?"

"Eh?!" Garry exclaimed as the red-color quickly returned to his face, while Ib continued to look at him with innocent-looking eyes. Garry nervously scratched the back of his head as he contemplated on what to tell Ib, he didn't like lying to the girl, whom was smart enough to tell when he was doing so anyway. What an awkward situation that he had suddenly walked into; Garry let out a sigh and went on with. "Uh, well... Occasionally, I guess... B-But don't go telling Mary that... Or anyone else for that matter."

"Okay, Garry." Ib responded as she was rather quick to accept this as an answer to her question, Garry was quite thankful that Ib wasn't like Mary who would simply keep pushing at the issue. Garry playfully patted Ib on the head as he stood up straight with her hand tightly clasped in his; he then quickly lead her out of the room so they could catch up with Mary. As they went along, Ib suddenly paused with a pondering look upon her face; Garry let out a small sigh as he stopped as well and looked down at her.

"Is there still something wrong, Ib?" He asked, his voice sounding extra softer than usual; the last thing that Garry wanted was for there to be something worrisome on Ib's mind.

"I was just wondering something about that book..." Ib mumbled, her voice trailing off; this caused Garry to let out a sigh.

"You can worry about that kind of stuff when you're older." Garry explained with a glance up ahead of them, where Mary was running back and forth between the painting that where hung up, before he looked back at his little companion.

"I know, but..." Ib said before trailing off, then after a few more seconds, she looked up at Garry with hopeful eyes. "When I'm older, will you tell me what the words it says are?" A frown appeared upon Garry's face as her words sank into his mind, she was implying that they would still be close if and when they managed to get out of the gallery. Garry would love to still be her friend on the outside world, but with their greatly varied age differences it would prove to be a rather difficult thing to accomplish. Never-the-less, Garry gave Ib a sure nod, no matter how much the mere thought of explaining such things embarrassed him; right now, he just wanted to help put Ib's mind at ease and they would cross that bridge once they got to it.

"S-Sure thing, but first we should focus on getting out of here." Garry said with a chuckle, which caused Ib to become over-joyed as she gave him a big grin. The very sight of it caused a similar reaction on the purple-haired man's face, he was happy that he was able to keep the young girl's spirits up in their current situation. Garry lightly gave Ib's hand a squeeze as the duo walked along; he was determined to make sure that they got out of the gallery so Ib could get older; he would make sure that none of them would die here.


	3. What Ifs

1**Hey, I'd just like to thank everyone that's faved/followed/or reviewed this story so far! I really appreciate it and am glad that you guys are liking my little one-shots. :3 I wasn't planning on writing another one so soon since I have another original story that needs my attention, but I just got a Mary cosplay and got SO excited that I decided "Hey, why not write another one-shot for the heck of it?"**

**Though I must warn you that this one has a tad bit of angsty bits in it. D: (The one-shots are probably going to start alternating between happy ones and sad ones. Though it really depends on what I feel like writing.)**

**What If's**

Garry's head was spinning when he came to, his whole body aching like there was no tomorrow; he was dazed enough to forget what had just happened. The purple-haired man let out a groan as he looked up to see a familiar little girl looking down at him with worry shining brightly in her red eyes. Garry quickly got to his feet as the last few minutes of events flashed through his mind once more.

"Ib, are you okay?" He quickly asked, more worried about his young companion more than he was about himself. "Such a harsh fall must have hurt you a great deal more than me, I can't believe Mary pushed us in here."

"..." Ib's lips quivered as if she had wanted to say something, but decided against it. At first Garry was about to let it go as the young girl was usually quiet anyway and tended to do this often, however, he paused and looked down at her. Her empty hands were nervously fiddling with the red scarf around her neck and her matching eyes glistened as if they threatened to spill out tears; Garry knelt down on one knee in order to be more at Ib's level.

"Ib-" Garry began, but was then cut off by the usually silent girl.

"I-I'm sorry, Garry, but I... I lost my rose!" Ib said, her eyes narrowing as if she were attempting to hold back the tears that threatened to spill. "You told me to keep it with me, but it's gone... Are you mad at me?"

"I couldn't be mad at you for that." Garry stated as he held back the rising fear that he was feeling; he had to find her rose and fast. Ib looked up her older companion and her expression seemed to ease up a bit; making it clear that she had been far more worried that Garry would have been mad at her rather than her rose being missing. That thought alone caused Garry to let out a sigh; Ib sure was a peculiar child.

"We should really go find it now though." Garry stated as he stood back up and took a hold of Ib's hand; the little girl nodded and went along with him as they ventured around the toy-box. The duo passed by many of the dolls and mannequins as they went along, keeping a close eye out for the glowing red petals of Ib's rose. Garry, however, only became increasingly worried each time they passed another object by; they were running out of areas to search and they hadn't even seen the slightest hint of the young girl's rose.

"Garry, look at this." The young man heard Ib say, he quickly turned to face her with his hopes getting high that she had found her rose. However, nothing was that simple as Ib came walking back to him with something pink clutched firmly in her little fist. "I found the key we were looking for..."

"Well, that's good, now we just have to find your rose and get out of here." Garry replied to Ib with a forced smile upon his face. The brown-haired girl gave a sure nod as she pocketed the key into the well hidden pocket on her skirt.

"I hope we find it soon..." Ib murmured quietly as she took a hold of Garry's hand once more; he could tell that she was starting to become just as worried as he was, but Ib was obviously trying to hide her emotions like she usually does.

"I hope we do too-"

"Oh, pretty!" The terrifingly familiar voice had sang, bringing both Garry and Ib to her attention; Mary was standing several feet away, crouched down as she appeared to be talking with one of those horrid blue dolls. "Can I have it? Really?! Oh, thank-you so much!"

As the duo watched, the blue doll held out Ib's glowing red rose towards Mary; the painting child happily took a hold of it, almost as if she were receiving a present. While Mary squealed out in excitement, Garry quickly pulled Ib along in the direction of their deranged so-called friend.

"Mary!" Garry called out, his voice becoming louder than usual much to both of the girl's surprise. "That belongs to Ib, give it back."

Mary turned to look at the duo with a look of surprise on her face, as if she had not been expecting them, however it soon turned to a look of utter disgust. The young painting child's hand clenched into a tiny fist around the flower, the thorns on the rose's stem not even appearing to phase her at all. Garry took a step towards Mary, keeping Ib behind him incase the painting was hiding some hidden trap up her sleeve; however, the blonde-girl simply took a step back in order to keep the same distance between them. Mary's eyes were shining with the same ferocity of a feral animal, one that was backed up into a corner...

"Mary..." Garry said once more, almost as if he had wanted to say something more, but couldn't find the right words.

"What... What if I don't want to give it?" Mary asked after a few painfully silent and still minutes ticked by. "If I give it back, Ib will leave, so you can't have it." The young girl clutched tightly onto the rose's stem as she glanced away from the man, as if to look for an escape route if she needed one. Gary took this as the opportunity to take another step towards Mary, without her noticing it; he took a deep breath, hoping he'd possibly be able to get close enough to snatch the rose out of the painting's hand.

"Well... Maybe I can give it back..." Mary mumbled as if she were contemplating something; she then turned her blue-eyed gaze back to Garry, with a crazed smile plastered onto her face. "Hey, Garry how about you... Trade your rose for Ib's?"

"What?" Garry asked, Mary's words not quite sinking into his mind; however, after a few more seconds ticked by as a growing sense of dread filled him. Garry was scared, but he didn't necessarily want to think about the repercussions of what he was about to do... At that moment, all he cared about was saving Ib.

"I... Of course." Garry said, his voice cracking under the various emotions that were flying around the room at that moment. He then carefully pulled out his own rose, it glowed faintly, almost as if his heart knew that this was in no way going to end well.

"Yay!" Mary cheered as she bounded a few steps, holding her hand out expectantly. "Blue is my favorite color, anyway!"

"Just take care of it, okay?" Garry said with a grimace.

"Of course." Mary replied with her smile still firmly in place. As Garry was about to reach out his hand to hand over his rose to Mary, his sleeve was suddenly grabbed by a small hand that soon balled up into a fist. Garry froze and looked down at Ib, he hadn't thought about how she had felt about this situation, but he simply knew that he had to get her rose back no matter what.

"Garry..." The young girl mumbled in such a way that it broke the older man's heart; she was scared too, though it would have been hard for someone who didn't know Ib that well to be able to tell. He felt that he had grown to know the stoic young girl well enough in their short time together, that he knew what she was feeling.

"Hey, don't worry, it'll be fine." Garry replied with an attempted smile in order to keep Ib calm; the nine-year-old girl simply held tightly onto his coat, while looking up at him with her crimson eyes shining with hidden emotions.

Mary watched the brief exchange in silence, her smile turning into a frown as she watched it; her blue eyes beginning to burn with their own emotions, they were laced with jealousy. Her tiny hands clenched tightly around the rose once more and she gritted her teeth together; why, why did it have to be that man? Ib never looked at her like that, no matter how much Mary wished that she would; no matter how much Mary wanted them to be together forever, she knew that Ib would never care for her the same way that she cared for Garry. Those two had a special bond that Mary could never be apart of no matter how much she wished that she could, after-all, she was only a painting to them, wasn't she? That same dreadful feeling that she had felt while stabbing the mannequin head came crashing back to her with a vengeance.

"I've changed my mind..." Mary said, her voice only slightly above a whisper as her eyes remained glued onto the duo. Garry turned to look back at the girl with a look of slight confusion upon his face.

"What was that?" He asked, not having heard the painting child's silent words; for whatever reason, that little fact really enraged Mary as well.

"I said that I don't want your rose!" Mary screamed out, her free hand flying up to roughly snatch a hold of one of the rose's delicate petals. Ib winced as it lightly fell to the ground beneath Mary's feet; Garry's hand quickly clenched into a fist, he was done with playing Mary's games. Garry quickly went forwards in a futile attempt to reclaim Ib's rose, however he was stuck in place as if something was holding him back. Mary's eyes widened with fear as she saw Garry's movement and with that, she quickly dashed away.

"Mary!" Garry shouted as he kicked off the dolls that had latched onto his legs while he hadn't been paying attention.

"Garry, all those things are waking up." Ib said as she lightly rubbed her hand against a shallow cut that had appeared on her cheek when Mary ripped off one of her petals. With her free hand, Ib was pointing over towards a cluster of mannequins along with many blue dolls; the creatures were beginning to stir, almost as if the commotion with Mary had woken them from a deep slumber.

"This isn't good." Garry said with a silent curse under his breath as he quickly turned to face Ib. Without asking first, Garry hurriedly swooped Ib up into his arms, receiving a surprised yelp from the young girl; normally he would let her walk on her own, but it was far too dangerous, and they had to hurry in order to get Ib's rose back.

Garry quickly ran in the direction that Mary had gone, with the gallery's monsters closing in on them on all sides. Ib let out another whimper as the duo reached a stair case; Garry didn't hesitate as he bounded up them, hoping that the creatures wouldn't follow after them. After a few seconds, it became clear that they were safe, now they simply had to find Mary.

"That was unpleasant, wasn't it Ib?" Garry asked, looking down at the girl that was now hiding her face against his chest; she must have been more scared than Garry had originally thought. "Do you think you're well enough to walk?"

"Hmp, G-Garry..." Ib looked up and to Garry's surprise, the cut on her face was now more of a gash and her pure white shirt was stained red around her right shoulder, letting him know that she now had another one. Several feet away, another red petal was laying carelessly on the ground; Garry noticed it and took a deep breath. Ib's rose only had five petals, so that must have meant that there were only three left; dread ran down Garry's spine as he began to run down the long hallway that they were in, with Ib still in his arms.

"Erk!" An awful sound emanated from Ib's throat, causing her whole body to jerk in unison. Shortly afterwards, the young girl began to squirm in her older companion's arms. "G-Garry, put me down!"

Garry bit his lip as he ignored her and ran past another rose petal, he could feel his hands starting to get warm and sticky from Ib's blood as new wounds formed right under where he held her. It was obviously making her irritable, but he knew that he couldn't put her down now; they simply didn't have the time for that, she'd never be able to keep up with him in this state. Garry, however, did attempt to adjust his hands though that only caused them to find other wounds; Ib's hands clenched into tight fists as she held onto Garry's shirt.

"D-Don't worry Ib, it'll all be fine in a minute." Garry said, though he was unsure if he entirely believed that himself. "Just keep telling yourself that to get your mind off of the pain..."

"Garry, I'm sca..." Ib's whispering voice trailed off as her tiny body gave another jerk before she finally slumped in Garry's arms. The young man now finally came to stop as he worriedly checked on his little companion.

"I-Ib, are you okay?" Garry asked, looking at Ib's face as her head weakly lolled back; her red eyes looked glazed and her chest only faintly heaved with breathing. "Please, hold on..." Garry adjusted his grip, to where one of his hands was supporting Ib's head; he didn't want her to be jostled too much as he began to run off down the hall once more. They duo had then finally reached another stair case that led upwards, another rose petal lay gently under it; Garry took a deep breath as he descended them, if his calculations were correct then Ib's rose probably only had one more petal on it.

"Loves me?"

"Mary, stop!" Garry shouted loudly as he came out of the staircase, finally coming face to face with the painting child. Mary, who had her back towards the duo, turned to face them; her face no longer held the innocence that the Mary they knew had had, instead it was filled with utter hatred. In her hand, Ib's rose was firmly clutched, the last petal hanging on for dear life; as Garry took a few steps closer and got a better look, it appeared as though a thick red paint was slowly dripping from Mary's hands. It was apparently that the thorns had finally started to mangle the young girl's hands from her clutching them so carelessly.

"Give me back Ib's rose." Garry stated, though he knew that he would probably have to get it back by force. However, he was unsure of how that was going to go with Ib still in his arms; Mary sent him a narrowed look at she then glanced back down at the pitiful little flower in her hand.

"Why should I? If Ib leaves then she'll be with you, but if she stays with me forever, she'll hate me..." Mary said, the realization hitting her like a ton of bricks; tears welled up in the painting's eyes, which Garry hadn't thought to be possible.

"Mary, Ib doesn't hate you." Garry said, inching closer only for Mary to take a few steps back.

"I don't believe you." Mary said, turning slightly to look at the staircase that was just behind her. "I-I want to leave with Ib, but... I don't think I can now, it's too late for that... I just want to leave, so please leave me alone after this..."

"What are you talking abo-" Though Garry never got to finish his sentence as the last rose petal fell to the ground...

Garry's eyes flew open as the rough pounding inside of his chest became to much to bear for him to continue with his slumber. A dream? That had only been a dream? Garry vaguely remembered burning Mary's portrait with Ib, so that hadn't happened...? The purple-haired man still couldn't push away the eerie feeling that had suddenly taken him; he turned his head to look at a painting that hung up on the wall net to him. The thing had previously been covered and now the tarp that had hid it was lying on the group; Garry frowned at the sight.

"How unsettling." He murmured as he found his voice after a few seconds, finally managing to calm himself down after his horrible dream. Garry recalled how he had wanted to rest in this room and Ib... she was in here with him... She was safe.

"Ib, are you ready to go now?" Garry called out as he pulled himself up onto his feet; he assumed the girl must of been looking around behind one of the bookshelves. "Ib?"

Silence. That was unlike her, she usually would have answered whenever he called out to her; with his heart beginning to beat frantically once more, Garry wondered whether Ib had also fallen asleep. However, Garry secretly knew that that wasn't quite the case.

"Ib?!" He called out louder, frantically looking around the room and sure enough the young girl was no where to be seen. Garry bit his lip as the panic was rising up inside of him, but then a soft thud sounded out behind him before he could do anything else.

"Hm." He heard Ib's uncertain mumbled, whirling around, Garry then saw that it was in fact his small friend. Without questioning how she had gotten there, Garry rushed over to Ib and worriedly grabbed her by the shoulders which took her by great surprise, her eyes widening.

"Ib, I told you to not leave the room." Garry said sternly, then letting go of her so he could take a step back. His gaze quickly flickered over her to see if she had any injuries, but there was only the same one on her ankle which she had gotten when one of those red stick figures had ran into her. "You're not hurt are you? Where were you?"

"No..." Ib mumbled, her red eyes looking quite bewildered as if she was still slightly confused about something. "I... I found a secret room..."

"Oh, you did?" Was all Garry could think of to say, he was slowly settling down and now felt bad about being so harsh with the young girl. Ib nodded as a reply and then turned her crimson gaze to look up at her much taller companion.

"Are you mad at me?" She asked with a frown on her usually stoic face. Garry was then reminded of his nightmare and let out a sigh; he then took a few steps towards Ib and patted her lovingly on the top of the head. Garry let out a small laugh as he knelt down to be more at the girl's level, then he replied to her.

"I couldn't be mad at you for that."


End file.
